New TB drug could shorten treatment time: study

New York: A new experimental antibiotic against tuberculosis (TB) has been shown to be more effective against tuberculosis than isoniazid, a decades-old drug that is currently one of the standard treatments for the disease, reveals a study on mice. The new drug, called AN12855, has several advantages over isoniazid. Indeed, isoniazid requires the conversion of its active form into a mycobacterial enzyme, KatG, in order to kill the pathogen, which creates some problems.

In some M. tuberculosis, KatG is non-functional. This does not make M. tuberculosis less pathogenic, but prevents the drug from acting. Therefore, this creates an easy avenue for the development of drug resistance.

In the study, the new drug showed a much weaker tendency to develop resistance, and it stays in the tissues where the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis resides longer, killing them more effectively.

The goal of TB drug development programs is to develop universal treatment regimens that will shorten and simplify TB treatment in patients, which usually takes at least six months, and sometimes more than a year, to report. lead author Gregory T. Robertson, badistant professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, United States.

For the study, the researchers used a new TB mouse model that develops these granulomas containing M. tuberculosis to compare isoniazid and AN12855. A granuloma refers to a mbad of granulation tissue, usually produced in response to infection, inflammation or the presence of a foreign substance.

"We found that the drugs differed significantly in their ability to kill the pathogen in very diseased tissue," Robertson said. The AN12855 has proven to be more effective "without selection for appreciable drug resistance," Robertson added in the study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Despite significant progress in the fight against tuberculosis, it remains the leading cause of infectious death in the world, he said. "Multidrug resistance is an additional challenge for the global TB control mission.Together, our group has been pioneering the use of new mouse efficacy models to help advance the world's TB control mission." new innovative treatments designed to shorten the duration of TB treatment. "